By Geno McGahee (At Ringside)
Photos by Dani McGahee
MGM Springfield brought boxing back to the city with a Murphys Boxing card that was met by a near sold out crowd. In the main event, Abraham Nova, 15-0, 11 KO’s, had no issues stopping Mario Ezequiel Sayal Lozano, 18-3-1, 9 KO’s, at the end of the second round. It was just a difference in class and Lozano didn’t have the power to fend off the undefeated Nova.
In the co-main event, William Foster, 10-0, 7 KO’s, intimidated his opponent from jump as he leapt over the top rope into the ring. The look on Ramon Esperanza’s, 22-16-1, 11 KO’s, face was not one of extreme confidence and when the opening bell rang, it was a one-sided beat down. Esperanza was dropped with regularity, leading to a fourth round stoppage.
Luis Arcon Diaz, 7-0, 7 KO’s, used his size and power advantage to dominate Jose Aubel, 8-4, 7 KO’s, stopping him in the fourth round. In the opening bell, Aubel slugged, but when the return was too strong, he began moving a lot and forcing Diaz to chase. In the third round, a combination put Aubel down. He would get up and be placed directly onto the floor again by a left hook. There was plenty of time left in the round, but Diaz didn’t press allowing his opponent to make it into the fourth round. Body punches would end the fight in the fourth and the happiest guy in the arena seemed to be Aubel, who shook everyone’s hand and raised his opponent’s hand and paraded around the ring. I’ve never seen a better loser.
Springfield’s own, DJ Whitley, 5-1-1, was the star of the night, at least in the crowd’s estimation, as he dominated Bryon Goldsby, 5-11, en route to a four round decision by scores of 40-36 (twice) and 39-37 by a very generous judge. Whitley was pressing with his fast combinations as Goldsby held with regularity to the point where he should have been penalized. The fight was a clutching mess, but the hometown guy came back with a win and that was enough for the crowd to erupt with joy.
Middleweight, Carlos Gongora, 16-0, 12 KO’s, used a body attack to neutralize and dominate Damien Ezequiel Bonelli, 23-7, 20 KO’s, leading to a unanimous ten round decision by scores of 98-92 (twice) and 99-91. Bonelli enjoyed the fight and had a lot of bravado, but he lost nearly every round and was looking for a one punch knockout to end the fight, the entire time. Gongora was consistent and maintained the attack as he defended the wide punches that came sporadically in return. It was a fun scrap but not very competitive.
Anthony Velazquez, 6-0, 6 KO’s, took on Bruno Diaz, 0-6, and it ended as you would assume. Velazquez ended the fight in 93 seconds of the first round in a battle that Diaz had no interest in. Diaz did not want to be in the ring and the punches that put him down were not that impressive. It was rather obvious that Diaz was looking for a way out when the bell rang. In his defense, at least he showed up for the fight, but he submitted the second the opening bell rang.
In other results, Jr. Welterweight, Ray Jay Bermudez, 7-0, 5 KO’s, had no issue knocking out Patrick Leal, 0-6, in the opening round. Welterweight, James Perella, 3-0, 3 KO’s, would dominate and stop Paulo DeSouza, 0-9, in two rounds.
